[Event "chess24 Banter Series Final"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "19.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Armenia"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]
{[%evp 0,106,21,21,63,59,58,73,55,56,56,15,15,7,10,11,21,2,11,-1,12,13,2,5,5,
-25,0,-45,-19,-9,-17,18,-37,-48,-18,-20,-18,-51,-52,-132,-138,-85,-75,-76,-52,
-70,23,0,-12,-82,-80,-99,-77,-71,-132,-132,-80,-70,-76,-76,-54,-54,0,0,0,0,0,0,
24,-25,-18,-29,-23,-21,-28,-91,-67,-84,-73,-58,-56,-54,-52,-70,-56,-54,-33,-24,
-9,-17,-56,-50,-20,-24,-16,-57,-27,-112,-112,-107,-132,-167,-110,-268,-322,
-354,-400,-410,-435]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. c3 Nd7 6. Be2 h6
7. O-O Ne7 8. a4 a6 9. b4 a5 10. b5 c5 11. dxc5 Nxc5 12. Be3 Rc8 13. c4 Ne4 14.
Qb3 dxc4 15. Bxc4 Nd5 16. Rd1 Bb4 17. Bxd5 exd5 18. Nd4 Bg6 19. Nd2 Nc5 20. Qa2
O-O 21. Rac1 Qe7 22. N2f3 Ne4 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Rc1 Rxc1+ 25. Bxc1 Qc5 26. Bb2
Qc4 27. Qa1 Nc3 28. e6 fxe6 29. Nxe6 Qd3 30. Nf4 Qb1+ 31. Qxb1 Bxb1 32. Bxc3
Bxc3 33. Nxd5 Ba1 34. Nd2 Bc2 35. Nc4 Bxa4 36. Nxa5 Bxb5 37. Ne3 $4 (37. Nxb7 {
is just fine, when White can play on forever with no risk. (To be fair,
without any real chance of winning, either, barring a blunder from Black, but
a pawn's a pawn.) With more than enough time on the clock, Aronian didn't stop
to notice that} Bc6 $4 {leaves Black as the "forkee" rather than the
successful forker after} 38. Ne7+ $18) 37... Ba6 $17 {Not the best, but White
is now in trouble, and went on to lose (though he does achieve "official"
equality later on.} (37... b6 $142 $19) 38. Nb3 Bf6 39. Nd5 $2 Kf7 $19 40. Nxf6
Kxf6 41. f3 Bc4 42. Nd2 Bd5 $2 (42... b5 $19) 43. Kf2 b5 44. Ke3 Ke5 45. Kd3 g5
46. g3 h5 47. Ke3 b4 48. f4+ $2 (48. Kd3 $11) (48. h4 $11) 48... gxf4+ 49.
gxf4+ Kf5 $19 50. Kd4 Bf7 51. Ke3 b3 52. Kd3 Kxf4 53. Kc3 h4 0-1
[Event "chess24 Banter Series Final"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "20.2"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "Armenia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARM"]
{[%evp 0,94,21,7,16,-5,-7,-12,23,-22,-9,-19,8,-2,12,-4,5,-24,-23,-12,14,14,25,
49,25,22,27,-24,-19,-18,16,-9,-13,-4,0,-20,16,11,33,30,15,19,14,12,79,68,75,60,
57,66,62,26,20,17,60,14,5,9,7,18,21,-40,0,-25,-13,-4,-4,-27,41,27,150,28,35,36,
114,34,4,-139,-127,-87,-69,-71,0,-212,-329,-322,-370,-364,-364,-428,-441,-878,
-988,-1216,-1261,-1360,-1398]} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. c4 dxc4 5. Qa4+
Nfd7 6. Qxc4 Bg7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Nc3 e5 10. d3 h6 11. Be3 Re8 12. Rfc1
Nb6 13. a3 Nd4 14. Qd1 Nf5 15. Bc5 Nd7 16. Ne4 a5 17. a4 b6 18. Ba3 c5 19. b3
Bb7 20. Nfd2 Rb8 21. Nc4 Ba8 22. Bb2 Qc7 23. e3 Rbd8 24. Qe2 Nf8 25. h4 h5 26.
Rd1 Nh6 27. Ng5 Bxg2 28. Kxg2 Ne6 29. Qf3 Ng4 30. Rd2 f5 31. Qe2 Nxg5 32. hxg5
f4 33. e4 {Aronian has been doing fine up to here, but now he goes awry.} Rd4
$2 {Not all exchange sacrifices by Armenians are good ones.} 34. f3 $18 Rxc4 $2
35. fxg4 $2 (35. dxc4 Ne3+ 36. Kf2 $18 {may not look all that bad for Black,
but it is in fact quite lost. The problem is with his minor pieces: the bishop
is dead, while the knight can't avoid being exchanged by an inevitable Bc1xe3.}
) 35... Rb4 $11 36. gxh5 Rxb3 $2 37. hxg6 $16 (37. h6 $16) 37... Qd6 38. Qh5 $2
(38. Rf1 Qxg6 39. Qg4 $16) 38... Rxd3 $11 39. Rxd3 Qxd3 40. gxf4 Qxe4+ 41. Qf3
$4 (41. Kg1 $11) 41... Qxf3+ 42. Kxf3 e4+ $19 {Ouch.} 43. Kg4 Bxb2 44. Rb1 e3
45. f5 e2 46. f6 e1=Q 47. f7+ Kg7 0-1
[Event "chess24 Banter Series Final"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "21.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Armenia"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. c3 Nd7 6. Be2 h6 7. O-O Ne7 8. Nbd2 a5
9. a4 Bg6 10. Ne1 c5 11. Ndf3 Nc6 12. Be3 Qb6 13. Bb5 Na7 $2 {The center isn't
as secure as Grischuk surmised.} (13... cxd4 14. Nxd4 (14. cxd4 Be7 $11) 14...
Bc5 $11) 14. Bxd7+ Kxd7 15. c4 $18 {Blowing the board open, and Black's king
will be the victim.} Be4 16. Nd2 Bg6 17. cxd5 exd5 18. dxc5 Qxb2 19. Nc4 $1 {
White threatens the queen, and Nb6+, and even the simple Qxd5+. Black's
resignation was not premature.} 1-0
[Event "chess24 Banter Series Final"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "22.2"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "Armenia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARM"]
{[%evp 0,64,21,7,10,-10,-15,-15,27,-8,-8,-9,19,16,21,-9,32,-11,7,1,8,13,29,26,
26,18,41,13,13,-6,-3,-13,-22,-33,-37,-50,-68,-56,-56,-67,-79,-66,-65,-67,-32,
-25,-47,-101,-117,-141,-140,-133,-107,-107,-90,-164,-171,-157,-205,-209,-269,
-275,-281,-273,-273,-287,-283]} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. c4 dxc4 5.
Qa4+ Nfd7 6. Qxc4 Bg7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Nc3 e5 10. d3 h6 11. Be3 Re8 12.
Rfc1 Nb6 13. Qd1 Nd4 14. Nd2 a5 15. a3 c6 16. Rab1 a4 17. Nce4 Nd5 18. Bxd4
exd4 19. Nc5 b5 20. Rc2 Ra7 21. Rbc1 Rae7 22. Nce4 Bb7 23. Rxc6 $2 {Returning
the favor from a few games ago with a misjudged exchange sacrifice of his own.
Aronian takes full advantage of the error.} Bxc6 24. Rxc6 Rc7 $19 25. Qc2 Qd7
26. Rxc7 Qxc7 27. Qb1 Rc8 28. Qa2 Nc3 $1 {A nice touch.} 29. bxc3 dxc3 30. Nxc3
Qxc3 31. Bd5 Qa1+ 32. Qxa1 Bxa1 {Black will win the a-pawn and start winning
major material with his passers.} 0-1
[Event "chess24 Banter Series Final"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "20.4"]
[White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "France"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8.
O-O Nd5 9. Bxc4 Nxf4 10. exf4 a6 11. Re1 b5 12. Bd3 Nf6 13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4
Bb7 15. Ne5 g6 16. Qe2 a5 17. Bc4 Bb4 18. Rd1 Qd6 19. Raa1 Rad8 20. Rac1 Qb6
21. Na4 Qa7 22. Qe3 Rd6 23. Nc3 c6 24. h4 Rfd8 25. Rd3 Ba6 26. Bxa6 Qxa6 27.
Ne4 Nxe4 28. Qxe4 c5 29. Rcd1 cxd4 30. h5 Qa8 31. Qxa8 Rxa8 32. Rxd4 Rxd4 33.
Rxd4 gxh5 34. Rd7 f6 35. Nc6 Rc8 36. Ne7+ Bxe7 37. Rxe7 Rc6 38. g3 Rb6 39. Ra7
h4 40. gxh4 Rxb2 41. Rxa5 Rb4 42. f5 e5 43. Ra8+ Kg7 44. Ra7+ Kg8 45. Ra8+ Kg7
46. Ra7+ Kh6 47. Rf7 Rxh4 48. Rxf6+ Kg5 49. Rf8 h5 50. f3 Rf4 51. Kg2 Rxf5 52.
Ra8 Rf4 53. Rg8+ Kh4 54. Re8 Rf5 55. Kf2 Kh3 56. Re6 h4 57. Re8 Kh2 58. Re7 h3
59. Re8 Rg5 {White has kept his rook on the e-file for quite some time now,
and hasn't noticed that things have changed. Black, at last has a threat. With
more time on the clock, he would have drawn comfortably - even the cynical 60.
f4 would do the job - but here he has gone to sleep.} 60. Re7 $2 (60. Ra8 {
(or 60.Rb8/c8/d8) handles the threat:} Rg2+ 61. Ke3 Kg3 ({The point of 60.Ra8
shows up here. After} 61... Kg1 {only one move draws, but it's an obvious one:}
62. Ra1+ Kh2 {. This is another interesting moment, because White has a chance
to make a rotated version of the same mistake he made on move 60.} 63. Ra8 {
(or 63.Ra7/a6) is fine.} ({But not} 63. Ra5 $2 Rb2 {and now Black's king
escapes and the pawn moves up:} 64. Ra8 Kg2 65. Rg8+ Kf1 66. Rh8 Rb3+ 67. Ke4
Kg2 68. Rg8+ Kf2 69. Rh8 Rxf3 $19) 63... Rb2 64. Rg8 {keeps Black's king
locked up: draw.})) 60... Rg2+ 61. Ke3 Kg1 {Winning. White is in time to give
up the rook, but the f-pawn isn't fast enough to cost Black his rook.} 62. Rxe5
h2 63. Rh5 h1=Q 64. Rxh1+ Kxh1 65. f4 Kh2 66. f5 Kg3 67. Ke4 Rf2 (67... Rf2 68.
Ke5 Kg4 69. f6 Kg5 $19) 0-1
[Event "chess24 Banter Series Final"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "23.4"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B55"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "France"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "FRA"]
{[%evp 0,53,21,21,52,52,84,81,71,55,54,6,74,25,62,43,42,35,52,8,35,16,10,-3,40,
14,44,47,196,51,51,63,114,108,217,90,174,98,273,17,1,49,122,144,90,-9,147,-35,
68,99,159,211,1515,1892,29995,29996]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. f3 e6 6. Be3 Be7 7. c4 O-O 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Qc2 d5 10. exd5 exd5 11. O-O-O Nb4
$6 12. Qd2 (12. Qf2 $142 $1) 12... Re8 $2 (12... dxc4 13. Bxc4 Nfd5 $11) 13. a3
(13. g4 $1) 13... a5 $2 ({Black needed to make a slightly embarrassing retreat.
} 13... Nc6) 14. Kb1 $16 (14. g4 {is even stronger.}) 14... Bc5 {Threatening
to take on d4 and give check on f5, so White is forced to make a move he wants
to play in any case.} (14... Bd7 $142) 15. g4 $1 Bd7 (15... dxc4 $142) (15...
h5 $142) 16. Bf2 $1 $18 Qb6 17. h4 Bc6 18. h5 Nd7 {Black's king looks lonely...
} 19. cxd5 (19. h6 $142) 19... Nxd5 20. Bc4 Nxc3+ 21. Qxc3 Ne5 {So has played
very well so far, but now he misses not just one but two killing moves.} 22. h6
$2 (22. Ne6 $1 {is a crusher, and}) (22. Nxc6 $1 {is also winning, threatening
to take on c5 and then on f7 in case Black recaptures with the queen.}) 22...
Nxc4 23. Qxc4 Bxa3 24. Qc3 Bf8 $2 {Having come all the way back from the dead,
Vachier-Lagrave loses the game a second time - admittedly with a very natural
move.} (24... Bb4 25. Nxc6 Bxc3 26. Bxb6 bxc6 27. bxc3 Rab8 $11 {This would
most likely result in a draw, which - unfortunately for Vachier-Lagrave -
would still mean the end of the match, in So's favor.}) 25. Nf5 $1 Qxf2 26.
hxg7 {Just like that, it's over. The real threat isn't to take on f8, but to
play 27.Nh6#. Black stops it by closing the a1-h8 diagonal, but the result is
death on the adjacent a2-g8 diagonal instead.} f6 27. Qc4+ {Game and match.}
1-0
